Official Statement: Disciplinary Action by TNC

– On November 2, 2018, Carlo “Kuku” Palad typed a racist remark in relation to the Chinese community in a public match.

– Paulo Sy, the manager of TNC Dota 2, attempted to rectify the situation by covering it up which caused the issue to escalate.

Carlo “Kuku” Palad will be fined 50% of his winnings from the Kuala Lumpur Major and 50% of his winnings from either the Chongqing or Bucharest Major as detailed in the ‘sanctions’ section below. The winnings will be donated to The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (https://imadr.org)

– Paulo Sy will be fined 50% of his one month’s salary which will also be donated to IMADR.

– We believe these are necessary actions to educate and guide our players and people within the organization.

CONTEXT:

– During Dreamhack’s DreamLeague Season 10, Rolen “Skem” Ong typed a racist expression during an official match towards Chinese opponents Royal Never Give Up.

-A few days after this issue Carlo “Kuku” Palad typed the same racist remark in a public game.

-Given that Kuku is the former captain of TNC Dota 2 and one of the faces of our organization, and is an influential figure in Philippine esports, this type of behavior is not acceptable especially since Kuku had full awareness of the current issue.

-The manager of TNC Dota 2, Paulo Sy attempted to fix this situation by taking a screenshot of the match ID of the public game in an attempt to cover up the issue.

-We as an organization do not agree with his choice of action and are taking disciplinary measures towards Paulo as well, by fining him 50% of his one month’s salary.

SANCTIONS:

– We will be fining Carlo “Kuku” Palad 50% of his winnings from the Kuala Lumpur Major, and either of the following:

If the team directly qualifies to the Major, 50% of his winnings from the Chongqing Major.

If the team qualifies for the Minor, 50% of his winnings from the Bucharest Minor.

If the team qualifies for the Major through winning the Minor, 50% of his winnings from either the Minor or the Major (whichever is bigger).

If the team does not qualify for the Chongqing Major, Kuku will stream/cover the LAN Finals of the said Major, and all earnings from the stream will be donated to IMADR.

-The amount will be donated to https://imadr.org – The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR)

– 50% of Paulo Sy’s one month’s salary shall be donated to IMADR as well.

This is in line with Valve’s position on the matter:

“Going forward, we expect all teams who participate in our tournaments to hold its players accountable, and be prepared to follow up with strong punishments when players represent Dota and its community poorly.”

Q&A:

Why is it being donated IMADR?

– IMADR is an is an international non-profit, non-governmental human rights organization devoted to eliminating discrimination and racism, forging international solidarity among discriminated minorities and advancing the international human rights system.

We believe considering the issue at hand, this organization and their cause is the right group to support.

Why are these actions only being taken now?

– The amount of Kuku’s sanction and the idea of the penalty being donated to an organization/charity was already decided during our first public statement (released during the KL Major)

We wanted to give due diligence and find the right organization to donate to considering the issue at hand.

CLOSING:

We at TNC strongly believe that proper values and competitive integrity should be displayed not just in the professional scene but outside of it as well.

The players and people under our organization should reflect those values at all times. We are committed to guiding and educating our players towards that.